The Twelfth Doctor
by DudeSpectre
Summary: There is something unusual about our doctor. Considering the eleventh is already in the works I jumped straight to twelve; new batch story using that wonderful literary device - amnesia! - and the benefit of being able to reference back to older series!
1. Chapter 1

The sky cracked in half.

The sun emerged slowly from the horizon, crowned with a sky of burning orange, a new dawn on a new planet. But where was she? The sunlight cast her shadow across the green grass as she lay on her back. Her eyelids fluttered as the tiny glimpse of light danced over her face. She began to smile, as a dream played back in her mind. But they were more memories than dreams; she lived them once. She saw angels made of stone, a great crimson monster burning, and a girl in a fireplace. They were memories, not dreams; they were events from her past, hurrying past her mind like a train, each window in each cart bearing a recollection.

She saw men of steel, she saw screeching oversized pepper shakers, a man who never dies and a giant library stretching out across an entire planet.

Then the train began to slow, its shuffling engine grinding down to a shuddering stop, running out of steam like a marathon runner running out of breath, and with that she saw a flower waving in the wind – a rose.

Then she opened her eyes and, for what seemed like an eternity, took a deep breath, infusing her lungs with life. Her chest rose as she held it, as though this was the one and only time she would ever breath, a voice seemed to tell her to make the most of it. She held and held; squeezing her eyelid shut and then let it all go. Her lips curled as she released and another smile crossed her face.

She must have been dreaming because already those twilight memories were fading and melting into one another.

A giant crimson angel?

A steel man in a fireplace?

What was she thinking?

She allowed her head to fall to her left, in the direction of the sunrise. She did it slow and lazy, feeling as if she had all the time in the universe, little did she know how true that was.

She blinked when the sun caught her eyes and she raised her arm up to protect them from the intense light of the new dawn. The night was still present but the sun would soon push away the darkness and the day would arrive proper.

None of this answered her questions though. Where was she?

From her limited vision, still lay on her back, she could see the divided sky, the light and the darkness. She let her hands fall by her sides and run along the blades of grass, blades of anything else and they would have cut her. From this she guessed she was in a field.

Everything still felt so hazy; her memories, her dreams, all of them were glued together, or, from what sense they made, mashed together. She had images of little red riding hood on her mind and a big bad wolf, the things of fairy tales clouding her thoughts, and what looked like a big blue wardrobe which led to another world. Immediately she connected this to C.S Lewis and grinned.

Another tale, she thought.

A gust of wind blew in from the direction of the sun, carrying her hair over her face. Strands of it landed in her eyes and mouth. She spat it out and sat up, running a hand through it to straighten it. When she moved her hair from her eyes she caught sight of a rabbit. It watched her with glistening eyes, its ears twitching with curiosity. It made a reluctant step forward putting its weight on its foot and stopped, sniffing at the air. This made her smile. However, something felt incredibly wrong, but she couldn't place it, she knew something was not meant to be and yet it was.

'This isn't right is it?', she said to herself, the only other thing that heard her was the rabbit, who still watched her. They looked at each other for a few moments, eyes on eyes and when she thought the rabbit was frozen she turned over onto her fours and crawled closer to it, 'You're a brave one aren't you, are you on your own?'

The rabbit took a step back but kept its eyes locked with hers.

'Me too', she said, sitting up on her knees.

The rabbit seemed to copy her and stood up alert, twitching its ears again. It ran around in a circle and darted off across the grass. She watched it run, its back legs propelling it across the field until something else came into view, something that did not belong in the field. The rabbit ran past it, ignoring its presence until it disappeared from sight. The only thing that remained, standing tall on the grass, was a big blue box – a police box.

It certainly did not belong in the field.

She stood up slowly; her shadow mirrored her and grew long across the grass. It reached out to the police box, so close to touching it that she felt an electrical sensation to step forward and allow it to do so, to allow some part of her to connect to it, like a magnet too close, so close it might as well give into nature.

The police box watched her across the grass. It watched her as it always had and always would. She stood in a long red dress, coloured with grass stains as the knees. Her feet were bare and sinking into the grass and her black hair hung down over her shoulders, while strands hovered in the air, trapped in a dance with the wind. The police box watched the sun rising up over the shoulder.

Her shadow drew closer to the police box as she walked slowly over to it, treading grass down underfoot. With each step she felt two beats, something she didn't notice before. She stopped walking, placed a hand on her chest and tilted her head. She expressed amusement at this, that maybe she was still dreaming. She would humour it for now but soon she would have to wake up.

She started walking again, each step bringing her closer to this unnatural object. She felt her heartbeats resounding loudly in her chest, if she opened her mouth she would not have been surprised to hear them tumble out and make her lips hum.

She reached out her hand and put it against the door. She closed her eyes and smiled, sensing a feeling of unification in her stomach. She felt like a child, lost, finding home again, and yet she was still afraid to open the door. What was she expecting? Was Narnia on the other side of that door, or something like it?

'You've always been there, haven't you?', she said, half expecting an answer, she knew how dreams went. The words – police box – seemed to glow brighter with her touch, as if it were a cat purring, 'You were there for my brothers before me, now you're here for their little sister'

With her final word the door, which she noted seemed to be tense when she first touched it, relaxed and opened. It swung open slowly revealing darkness that went on further than it should have. At its heart there was the glimmer of a console. She looked around the side of the police box, her hand never left its surface as she circled it.

'What kind of dream is this?', she said, and from that moment on she knew there was no waking up, the dream rolled ever onwards, and with these dreams there came nightmares.


	2. Chapter 2

The dark interior of the police box swallowed her shadow. Were it not for that faint glimmer of light inside she would have been fooled into thinking that it stretched out for eternity. But instinct told her that was wrong; it did not go on forever. But still, it extended further than it rightfully should have. Her shadow should have fallen against a phone, it should have fallen against a back wall of some sort, but it didn't. She was staring into a much wider space – a room.

'This is magic', she said, holding a hand up to her mouth, doubtful of the words as they tumbled out, as if she was uttering some kind of blasphemy.

Reluctantly, she stepped into the police box. Her feet carried some of the light dew sprinkled over the grass onto the solid floor leaving light wet footprints that stopped once her feet dried. The glimmer in the centre of the room brightened and she held her breath again.

The glimmer came from a glass cylinder; there was an empty sphere inside it from which the light emanated a ghostly golden glow. The cylinder rose out of a hexagonal console, which was covered in alien symbols and a complicated arrangement of buttons and dials. The glimmer strengthened and filled the sphere with its golden light. Tendrils of this golden energy snaked down through the console, like water trickling through a thousand tiny streams

She let her breath go again and continued breathing as normal. The sphere in the middle of the cylinder, which at first seemed to be static, breathed as well, moving ever so slightly, and with each breath sections of the console came to life.

The six panels were separated by thick silver lengths of metal that continued over the edge of the console and hung down the sides, curving inwards. Similar lengths of silver stretched outwards along the black floor, matching the divisions in the console creating a hexagonal room. The metal went on until it reached the walls and ran upwards, each of them converging in the middle of the dome roof, forming a thinner, metallic cylinder, which met the glass cylinder halfway. The walls were white and decorated with silver rings, and the spaces in-between the silver separations were onyx black.

'Hello?', she said, her voice echoing around the room as she moved, 'What is this thing? Is it supposed to be a fancy new building or something?'

She paused and drew another breath.

'I haven't a clue where I am, I appear to be quite...lost', she stopped when she realised that she would get no answer.

She turned around on the spot, her dress flowing with her like an extension of her body, and stopped. She stepped backwards towards the console, taking in the strangeness of the decor, sitting against it, making sure not to interfere with any of the buttons; she did not want to anger the owner.

She looked out the door and watched the sun rising, filling the grass with new colour. The uniform greenery was interrupted by a shadow which belonged to a rabbit; she fancied it was the same one as before.

'There you are!', she said, her smile soaking into her voice, 'What made you run off like that?'

The rabbit tilted its head and twitched its ear twice. She lifted herself off the consol. As she did so the rabbit turned and looked back at her, startled by her sudden movement. As she walked towards the door she felt a rumble beneath her feet and the feeling of gears under the thin skin of the ground.

The door of the police box slammed shut.

She ran down the ramp towards the door and hit it hard. Her hands slapped against the wood leaving them red and stinging. She tried to look outside the windows but they were white and opaque, she couldn't see anything out of them.

She slapped the door again.

'This isn't as amusing as I first thought!', she shouted, curling her hand into a fist. She hit the door, 'Ouch!'

'You should calm down. You don't want to hurt our TARDIS', a voice said behind her

She turned around, her eyes wide, glistening with droplets of burgeoning tears. There was no body to put the voice to.

'Who is that?', she said

'I am going to have to apologise off the bat, this is a recording so I am not exactly going to be a great conversation'

'Then who is speaking?'

That was when she saw the ghost.

It walked towards here, roughly from where she stood near the console, the ghost of a man in a leather jacket, with a grin spread out across his face.

'Nice to meet me', he said, holding out his flickering hand. He looked down and withdrew it, being a "ghost" they couldn't touch each other, 'I never expected this to happen, you're a definite improvement!', he said, pulling at his ears

'Are you a ghost?', she said, stuttering, willing to accept the supernatural at this juncture.

'Do you know how ridiculous that sounds!? I'm an alien'

'Oh', she said, 'Well pardon me', her voice carried traces of sarcasm

'Can you let me out?', she continued

'No'

'Why?'

'Because you told me not to'

'I did no such thing', she said as her jaw dropped slightly. She felt exasperated; annoyed that this was one big practical joke.

'You're going to tell me, but right now all that matter is you keep that door shut and that you don't go out'

'Why?'

'Because in a few moments there won't be an out to go to'

'Look, Mr...'

'Smith'

She creased her brow and shook her head before continuing.

'Okay, Mr. Smith, this has been a lot of fun and this blue box of yours is quite fantastic but...'

She felt a warm sensation creep up her face, turning to pins and needles as it reached her scalp and dizziness as it crawled behind her eyeballs. Both her hearts began to flutter and bump in her chest.

'Apparently you're having an attack', the man said, though she wasn't paying much attention, 'Don't worry about that'

'Don't worry about the dizziness or that fact that I have two hearts!?

The man stood with his hands behind his back, still grinning at her.

'The dizziness will pass, but the two hearts, they're going no where...I hope'

'This has got to be a dream or a nightmare, or am I in a coma? What is wrong with me?'

'You were infected by a nasty little critter called an Emtrox. It was killing you until you regenerated. That should have killed it back but it didn't, however it weakened it and lucky for you your body will finish off the rest. You'll be as right as rain in a few days'

She slid down the door, holding a hand against her forehead. She came to a stop with her knees up by her head, slumped against the door with a worried brow and wide eyes. Who was this Mr. Smith. She looked up.

'Are you a doctor?'

'Yes', he said, his voice softening, the grin went away and concern filled his face, 'It did quite a number on you. It messed up the regeneration process in a way I have never seen before, it had to defend itself. You're lucky to have come back humanoid at all. It could have turned you into a massive slug...'

'Or a man-sized banana', this idea made him grin again, wider than before.

She had no idea what the grinning man with the big ears was talking about. Between the bouts of dizziness and the unconsummated desire to throw up she processed little of what he said. But she would remember, she would have to, for that was the only way this conversation could happen, she would have to complete the circle. She watched the sparkle in his eyes, there was something childish about him but at the same time he was concerned with her, a complete stranger, like somehow she had met a long lost brother and in an instant something clicked.

'You're not a very good doctor; you have an irritating bedside manner', she said, smiling

'Well, I'm not insulted', he said, crossing his arms, 'Because I knew you were going to say that'

'What else do you know?'

'I know a lot. I know the rest of this conversation, I know that the planet you were standing on has been vaporised and that in a few moments you're going to pass out'

'Well', she said, getting to her feet, stumbling, 'It has been nauseating meeting you, headache and all', she tapped her right temple, 'But besides that it's been quite...interesting, but I really should get going, so if you would be kind enough to let me out'

'Wait', the man said, he looked amused, 'Let me out...who are you exactly?'

The way he said this sounded to her as if he had the answer on a piece of paper in front of him and that he was testing her. She stood still, her gaze drifting from him whilst she allowed the question to sink in.

'I'm...what a stupid question'

'It's an easy one. What's your name?'

'I'm...', she searched her memory once more, and again there was no name there, 'I'm..I'm'

She began to stutter, this time she stuttered in torrents, like someone had crossed a wire inside her. Sweat formed on her forehead, it started to bloom red as the droplets trickled down.

Okay', the doctor said, 'Just breath, don't think. If we've timed this right you should be panicking'

'What? I'm...My name is'

She looked around, looking to hold onto something a grabbed the railing.

'Three'

'It...It was mice neeting you, but I really have to go'

'Two'

She spun around, grabbed hold of the handle and pulled the door. She had no reason to believe that it would open, it didn't before. Desperation was pushing her to act. The door fell open and rattled against the railing. She stopped in her tracks and gasped.

The lush greenery that greeted her earlier was replaced with black satin and the gentle sunrise that woke her was replaced with the angry glare of a raw, unfiltered star. She stood on the edge of airlessness, one more step and she would have walked into weightlessness, but fear held her feet.

'One', the doctor said

'I've got to wake up', she fell back and everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

Pain flared in his abdomen, it felt like something scraping against bone.

The Doctor tumbled fell back against the wall, the full force of his body propelling his spine into it. He winced and took a sharp breath, which whipped past his clenched teeth. Even through the pain and the wretched feeling in his stomach, even though this was his eleventh death, he still didn't want to disturb the occupants.

He was in Cardiff, something of a familiar spot to him by now. The year was December, 1868 and the snow was falling outside. In a few months his ninth incarnation was due to appear in this same town.

The window on his right was alight with a fire beating from within. It lit up a section of the ground, illuminating the snow, making the top layer of crystals glitter. But what really held his attention was the long black tendril sticking out of his gut. It reached into the dark, or more aptly, it reached out of the dark, from something that didn't belong in Cardiff – or on Earth.

This was another time in the Doctor's life. He was re-living memories, locked in unconsciousness; he could not do anything to change them. There was a slight haze around his vision, as though it was a dream, and yet it felt as real as anything. He didn't make a sound as the black tendril penetrating his stomach moved and explored his body, as if it were looking for something. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth and held onto the stem, trying to pull it out.

He tried to call out but instead he was forced to take another breath and hold inn what would have been a howl in the night had he let go. The words bad wolf drifted across his mind. It was a nagging phrase now; it seemed to be chasing his across eternity, reminding him of her. It had had its uses but now it was a remnant of someone lost. A rose flitted across his vision.

He concentrated on forcing the stem out when it released him of its own volition and whipped back into the darkness, back to its owner, back to the emtrox, back to "mummy". The Doctor fell to his knees, feeling the warmth of the blood pouring from his wounds, it spattered against the ground creating a floral red pattern as he crawled away. The tendril, tipped with a spike of what might as well have been made of diamond, had cut through his body and come out the other end as it embedded into the wall.

'I'm not a child minder', he said as his hands sank into the snow. The emtrox had left a present inside him; he could feel it already with his Time Lord senses, squirming around his gut. Where was River?

A shadow moved. It was blacker than the darkness around it. It taunted the Doctor, raising another fresh tendril into the light, a macabre gift for his River.

'No. You're not going to do that', he said, even he doubted the authority in his dying voice.

The tendril nodded and jabbed at the air, its speed seeming to cut through the atmosphere. The emtrox stayed wrapped in the dark, hissing at the Doctor. Yes I am, it seemed to say.

'Doctor!', there was that voice, a river's song. The Doctor smiled but the expression was soon corrupted with lines of dread.

'No', he wheezed, 'Get back to...TARDIS!'

He looked up but the emtrox was gone. As big as they could grow they were fast blighters, he gave them that. The explanation eluded even him how it got to this corner of the universe. Their planet was destroyed in the time war, in fact the whole galaxy they resided in was burned. Yet here it was, a single emtrox fighting to survive, all alone. He could empathise.

Another pain stirred inside him. He knew exactly what is was, it wasn't just Time Lord reasoning, it was a memory originating from his ninth incarnation, only recently had it resurfaced, ever since River and himself encountered the emtrox.

His eleventh body was coming to an end; he felt it dying. Toxins ran through his system, powerful, even for his Time Lord physiology. If he didn't act soon his body would become a nest for a new batch of emtrox, and they would infect the planet, every man, woman and child, they would be helpless in this time period.

He heard the sound of feet crunching through the snow, getting closer. River stepped out of the darkness. She fell to her knees and slung her arms around him.

'Doctor'

'That didn't hurt at all', he said, wincing

'I'm sorry', she said, then the warmth of her voice drained, replaced with calculating cold, 'Where is it?'

'It's still around'

River looked back into the darkness. The Doctor did not see the anger as it lit up her face, she reserved that for the emtrox. She turned back to him and smiled.

'Come on, you have to walk'

'My legs are cold'

'That's the snow'

'No', he moved back and showed River the puncture

'My legs feel cold'

'That's the snow'

It took every ounce of strength to hold back her tears. The blood was seeping into his clothing, staining it red. It was pooling around him, melting into the snow. She liked nothing about this, the emtrox was going to get its own.

'Come on', she threw the Doctor's arm over her shoulder and lifted him

Henry Killigan, the occupant of the house, sat in front of the fire, watching it as he dozed off to sleep. His eyes were transfixed by the fire. Another uneventful night, but he was thankful for it, he couldn't get enough of them nowadays. Something outside the window caught his attention. He got up and hobbled over to take a look but when he reached the window and opened it. The snow drifted in and covered his hands. All he saw was a two figured disappearing into the night and an unusual discoloration in the snow, a pool of something.

He looked up to see if he could make out the figures in the dark but it was impossible. Henry Killigan had no idea how close he came to encountering the living legend, the Oncoming Storm as he was known to some, the Lonely Traveller to others. He was another life the Doctor barely brushed, a life who would never know he even existed. He closed the window and wiped snow from his forearms, and sat down by the fire again to resume sleeping, another uneventful night.

They hurried over the field, two hunched figures in the dark, the snow slowing them slightly. A few metres away there stood the police box, its letters calling out in the dark like a beacon.

'We're close', River said

The Doctor kept his face lowered, thinking. Memories from his ninth were flooding back, some of which he lost before meeting Rose, ever since he clapped eyes on that damn emtrox. It seemed to have switched on a light of a darkened room in his mind. For some reason River was not coming with his twelfth incarnation, when he met his twelfth she was not with her. "Her", it still made him chuckle when he thought about it, what was to come.

'What's so funny?', River said

'Nothing'

This thing inside him was going to change his life in more ways than one, but still, he had to laugh, what else was there to do?

River eased the Doctor down by the base of the TARDIS. He looked up and smiled at it.

'Get inside', she said, searching through her pockets.

'I think this is where we part ways', the Doctor said, prodding a finger into the snow.

'What? For a genius you say some idiotic things sometimes. I'm excited to see how this regeneration thing works'

'Oh, this one is going to be one to remember...not that I will when it's done'

River retrieved two small black balls from her pockets and dropped to her knees. She crawled over to the Doctor and moved close to him, close enough to kiss. They both felt each other's breath against their lips and for a moment something inside him nearly made the Doctor consummate it, but he held back. He didn't want to kiss her goodbye.

'You're not making any sense'

'When have I ever?', he said smiling

'Come on, blow'

The two of them breathed onto the black balls in River's hand. As they did a dull orange light seeped through cracks in their surface, like a fire lighting them up from the inside. River held them out and let them go. They rolled out of her hand into the air and floated up past the top of the TARDIS. If the emtrox got to close it would be in for a warm...make that, hot welcome.

'I am starting to remember things, River, ever since we encountered this thing, things from back when I was nine'

'Years old?'

'No, my ninth incarnation...the one with the abundance of ear'

River looked at him and shook his head.

'Never mind', said the Doctor, clutching at his wound, 'There is a name I want you to look for – Harkness. Mention me; he'll know who I am'

'Harkness?'

'Jack Harkness, he's around this time period, it's a long story...don't let him try anything!'

'Am I missing...?'

'Take this', the Doctor pulled something from his breast pocket, it glinted in the light of the police box, a ring.

'Now's not the time for a proposal'

'No, this will light up when I come back. It will light up once, that will be when my ninth comes to sort out the Gelth. Whatever you do, do not try to find me, understand?'

'You're not leaving me here?'

'You're not alone, you're in good hands with Jack', the Doctor raised an eyebrow, 'Wrong choice of words'

'No'

'I have to, but when this ring lights-'

'You're going nowhere-'

'When this ring light up for the second time I want my River to run'

The balls floating over head began to resonate and crackle, as though the light inside was vying to break free. They rocked and rolled, and vibrated, and then, like dogs catching a scent, they stopped and shot off into the dark. Within a second there was a bright explosion as they impacted on the emtrox's carapace. It was close. The fire raged up its body and ate at it, like a bonfire it burned in the night.

The explosion would wake up Mr. Killigan and his family. Henry would have a job on his hands explaining what the charred carcass was in his field to his children, and the strange glowing box that he saw when he went out to investigate. The woman crying in the field told him what it was before she disappeared, and it was a word that would stay with Killigan to his death bed - TARDIS

The Doctor began patting at his pockets, wincing as he did. River stood up and moved a few steps through the snow towards the burning mass. A smile swept across her face, but it was not the taking of life that made her smile, no, it was the thought of safety, the kind of smile a rabbit might have escaping its fox. If she could hasten the things death she would have but she could not deny a small part of her was satiated with revenge.

'It shouldn't have tried filleting us', she said, turning to face the Doctor

The Doctor looked up.

'My screwdriver'

'Where is it?'

'Back at the house, I dropped it when it gutted me'

River ran back across the field while the Doctor finished prodding at the snow. He watched her run past the flaming emtrox. Besides all his companions the only one who had always been there was time, it had never left is side, and it dictated that River was never meant to meet his twelfth. He stood up and staggered into the TARDIS. He closed the door behind him and pulled the sonic screwdriver from his pocket, locking the door. The same moment he did this, as River ran, falling through the snow, she slowed down and looked back in the direction of the TARDIS. The door was closed and her Doctor was nowhere to be seen.

'No you don't'

She ran through the snow, watching the box light up, making its familiar low frequency whirring as it departed. She wasn't a second too late, any later and she would have missed the message written in the snow, emphasised by the TARDIS' fading light:

I'LL BE BACK – DON'T BE A BAD WOLF

'Doctor!', she screamed into the night


	4. Chapter 4

That final word rang through her like a heavy bell being struck.

She opened her eyes and gasped, 'What was that?'

She looked up at the familiar dome-roof of the console room, and in that moment she contemplated closing her eyes and keeping them shut for eternity until someone, preferably not the ghost thing with the big ears or until time itself stopped and the universe came to an end. She would be waiting a long time.

She opened her eyes again and looked down her body, down past the red dress and past her wiggling toes, to the door that she had previously assaulted.

The floor felt warm against her back, a distant fire burned down there; when she turned her head, resting her ear against it she felt a faint beat that coincided with the glow of the golden sphere hovering in the cylinder. She fancied she could hear something flowing underneath, a current, the flow of blood of some sort, maybe? Besides the word that rang through her head, the doctor, another flavoured it, an echo, like the two words were two one and the same. She heard it in her dream as well – the TARDIS

She turned over and lifted herself off the floor, stabilized by the railing. She held tight, fearing that the door might swing open and she would be sucked into space like in the movies. But that was silly, she wasn't sucked out before, the most harm she came to was when she fell to the floor, and even then it was a soft landing.

This room felt familiar to her now, even though it bore a different face. It had never donned this visage, this silver and black motif, nor had it ever looked so ornate. The room she stood in was a miniature cathedral, a cathedral of time and space and relative dimensions.

She walked up the ramp and rested a hand against the hexagonal console, feeling the warm silver. It should have been cold to the touch. She looked at the silver overhanging the sides, curving inwards at the base at knee height, a bold choice, she thought.

'TARDIS', she said, her eyes widened and her mouth relaxed, the letters, things began to click, 'Time and Relative Dimension in Space', the last word hissed softly off her lips

The sphere brightened. Something told her this thing, whatever its purpose, heard her, another instinctual flicker belonging to the Time Lords, as hardwired into her body as fight or flight was into humans.

The golden light bathed her face, and her green eyes brightened making them look richer than before. She blinked once as her pupils shrunk. It was then, time, just for a moment, seemed to slow down just for her and the console in front of her. She began to smile a slow burning smile, a smile reserved for long lost lovers.

'Are you okay, dear?', she said, rubbing the silver lining back and forth, 'I am sorry I didn't recognise you...it won't happen again', she allowed her hand to fall down to her side.

She reached down her stomach, down towards where the pain used to be, this was the spot where the tendril entered. But there was nothing there, her skin was unbroken. Her body was healthy but her memory was wounded; thousands of tendrils still wove through them. The ghost-recording asked her what her name was and automatically she searched for something human; Sarah, Jane, Donna, Martha, Rose. She was unaware what meaning those names had to her, but they were not her name.

'I'm missing something, aren't I?', she said to the TARDIS, frowning.

She looked at the light again and sighed, turning away to explore. That was when the glow increased. She faced it again but the light lessened. She furrowed her brow and turned again but the light wouldn't let her, it was searching for her attention. When her eyes adjusted the warm golden energy seemed to reach out and from that moment she was lost in the eye of the TARDIS.

The Doctor lurched forward towards the console. A trail of blood followed him from the door of the TARDIS, a broken red line, short spots where he was able to pressurise the wound, long slivers where he wasn't.

'By-golly that was difficult', he said, 'But she'll be alright'

The TARDIS' engines worked away, ignoring him. He lifted his blood sodden shirt and it squelched between his hands, staining them. The wound was ragged and deep but he couldn't see baby emtrox. It was burying itself deeper inside.

'Not my best look, right? It's a-', he gulped and let loose his first cry of pain. He wiped his nose even though the blood would look far less appealing than the snot, 'Anyway, as I was saying, it's a bolder fashion statement than a stick of celery. You can laugh at celery but you can't laugh at a fella when he's dying!'

He stopped and looked at his hands. They began to glow, foreshadowing the inevitable, what was to come

'She'll be alright, won't she?', the Doctor sank down to the floor, holding his head in his bloodied hands, he could feel it sticking to his hair. Again, the TARDIS ignored him, there was little it could do until he regenerated. It was always there for him but it never said a word.

'Please talk to me', he said, a child like glimmer shining through his voice.

He looked across to the other end of the room, rocking back and forth against the console, the whites of his eyes pronounced.

'Please'

Then like a punch to the gut he felt the final call. He took a deep breath and stood up. He turned around to look at the console.

'I'll see you on the other side'

He held out his arms, raising them slowly, and held back his head. He was ready for what was about to come and part of him looked forward to it. Sooner or later he was going to run into his ninth self as well, what a surprise that would be...what a surprise it was.

Any minute now golden arcs would come streaming out from under her sleeves like fire. Any minute now it would melt his damaged self and recast him anew. He was time's phoenix and any minute now the storm of light would rush over his skin and rebuild him.

Any minute now...any minute now.

And it did.

The light of the sphere died down almost whimpering out as she staggered back. It was like they both let go of the same length of rope at the same time. The light in the sphere slowly filled up again resuming its casual glow.

'I'm the Doctor', she said, baffled

'I'm the Doctor?', she was unsure, she patted down her chest and gasped, 'But...nah! That can't be right'

She held her hands up in front of her and laughed. She jumped up and down in the spot and spun around.

'I'm the Doctor!'

Her enthusiasm died down when she looked at the console. She scanned over the alien looking symbols and complicated arrangement of dials, but now they symbols didn't seem so alien and the dials made a little more sense than before. However, there was still a grey cloud in her head. She held her hands over the console, looking as though she expected an emtrox to come bursting out from underneath, scared to mess with the layout in front of her. She drew her hands back and shook her head.

'So how does this thing work?'


End file.
